Ecclesiastes 3: A Time for Everything, Back in Step with God

Introduction

"There is a time for everything, a time for every matter." Vijay Sekar, a guest speaker at the Église Évangélique Vie Nouvelle, asks the congregation to say it to the person next to them after the reading of Ecclesiastes 3:1-11.

The message comes in a season of trial: the church and a family have just lost a brother. From the start the pastor states a conviction: "Nothing happens unless God allows it." God is good, and he knows everything.

Starting from the text, he shows that our seasons have a beginning and an end, that God is not limited by time, and that our part is to surrender to him so we do not miss his time. He closes with a military expression, "my mistake" (in French, "autant pour moi").

Outline of the Message

1. A Time to Be Born and a Time to Die

• To speak of a time is to say there is "a beginning and an end." This is how the Lord has allowed things to be.
• The text sets seasons side by side in pairs: weeping and laughing, mourning and dancing, keeping silent and speaking. Seasons of sadness and joy alternate, and sometimes they do not follow one another.
• When a baby is born, God gives that child a certain number of days. Some children leave right after they are born. "God is sovereign. We do not control times and circumstances."
• Job's hope was to see God, even after his flesh was destroyed (Job 19:25-26). Paul says, "For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain" (Philippians 1:21). The preacher comments: "I know I will be in good hands, in the Lord's hands."
• "Precious in Yahweh's sight is the death of his saints" (Psalm 116:15). For the Lord it is not sadness: it is his son or daughter coming back to him.
• He adds a warning: we must not wish for death because everything is going wrong. "It is even a sin."

2. Not Everyone Lives the Same Seasons

• A season can be long or short, and only God knows. "Not everyone goes through the same seasons." It also varies according to the choices we make during those times.
• Some people tell themselves: "I have failed, I am not moving forward, I am not living anymore." That is not what God wants. During this time of failure, there may be something else to learn, and as long as we have not grown, God may leave us there a while longer.
• The driving school picture: as long as you have not mastered the basics and you put others in danger, the instructor says "you still need more practice." You cannot accuse him of doing it on purpose.
• Verse 10: God has given the sons of men a task. In every season he wants you to reach a goal. The question to ask is: "What goal does God want me to reach in this season?" Sometimes he is preparing you to help someone else.

3. God Is Not Limited by Time

• Our lives and our seasons are limited. God is outside of time: "I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, "who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty" (Revelation 1:8).
• When Moses asks his name, he answers "I AM" (Exodus 3:14): present in every time.
• God knows everything, and no one can hide from his face (see Psalm 139:7-10). To a downcast Elijah, God asks: "What are you doing here, Elijah?" (1 Kings 19:9).
• The whole congregation raises a hand to say that God is sovereign, but in hard times we ask "why?" God knows exactly what we need. His plan includes goals, missions, times of training, "times of alternation," practice and theory.
• "God believes in you." He believes you can get through this season, grow in it and move forward. "God did not put you in a season so that you would stay in it."

4. Samuel, Called to Leave the Old Season

• "How long will you mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him?" (1 Samuel 16:1). Samuel is sad and does not understand. God has already moved on to another season: "Fill your horn with oil, and go."
• When he arrives at Jesse's house, Samuel does not know who will be king. Seeing the first son, he tells himself that surely the Lord's anointed stands before him (1 Samuel 16:6-7), and God answers that it is not him. God is also training Samuel during this time.
• All the sons pass by. Like Samuel, we sometimes say: "Lord, you sent me, I am doing what you asked, and it is not working out as planned." The preacher urges: "Go all the way to the end of your mission. Do not settle for the landing."
• Samuel asks whether these are all his sons. The youngest remains, tending the sheep. God says to rise and anoint him, for he is the one (1 Samuel 16:11-12). The pastor reads in this a call to stand up and step into action.
• In the same room, David, his brothers, his father and Samuel each experience the moment differently. Yet only one thing is happening: God is choosing a king.
• David will later know victories and defeats, flights and celebrations. In the psalms he often begins with "why am I going through this?" and ends with trust: "I know he hears my cries."
• God says he knows the plans he has for you, plans of peace and not of evil (Jeremiah 29:11). This is true for every believer and for the congregation, which will also know times of victory and times of weariness.

5. Our Part: Surrender to God and Trust Him

• God prepares the times. Our part is to surrender to him. "Do not be late and do not be early. Be in the Lord's time."
• Saying "it was better before" means staying in a season where God no longer is. Like Samuel mourning Saul, we end up behind.
• We want to control everything. Think of parents who step in when their children squabble: tired, they rush in, hurt both children with their words and make things worse. "Let us take time before we rush in, too. Let us let God do things."
• David has the chance to kill Saul, and his men push him: "This is the moment, the Lord is delivering him to you." He refuses to lay a hand on the Lord's anointed (1 Samuel 24:7). Advice can lack wisdom, but "the decision belongs to each person," and each person bears the consequences.
• "But you, be strong! Don't let your hands be slack, for your work will be rewarded" (2 Chronicles 15:7). That is what the enemy wants: for our hands to grow weak.
• Hebrews 6:11-12 encourages us to keep the same zeal to the end and to imitate those who, through faith and perseverance, inherit the promises.

6. Walking in the Way of Good People

• "So you may walk in the way of good men, and keep the paths of the righteous" (Proverbs 2:20).
• In hard seasons, we want to be proven right. When a supervisor accuses us unfairly at work or in the family, in trying to prove ourselves we risk hurting people and doing harm.
• God asks for something else: to bless those who curse us and to do good to those who treat us badly (Luke 6:27-28), whatever the season.
• Let yourself be led by the Holy Spirit: do not be conformed to this present age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind so you can discern God's will (Romans 12:1-2).
• "Bear one another's burdens" (Galatians 6:2). Someone who is not going through the same season can lighten the load and encourage a brother or sister.

7. Risk and Benefit: Missing or Seizing the Kairos

• Our part also includes our choices, and choices bring risks or benefits.
• The risk: putting ourselves outside God's will and missing his time, the kairos. The preacher defines it as "God's favorable time for us, the opportune moment," set for a situation, a trial or a change in which God wants to step in.
• If God has started the next season and we have not left the old one, we miss the time when he wants to transform us, build us up and make us grow.
• "If we are early, we will get bored and we will get angry." If we are late, we will not grasp things either.
• The benefit: by placing ourselves in God's will, we are "in sync with God's time" and we benefit from that kairos in which he steps in with all his power.
• In the army, when a soldier misses a step during a march in formation, he says "my mistake" and gets back in step. The church is the body of Christ: it must walk together, coordinated by the Holy Spirit. When just one person is out of sync, it can put him in difficulty and put the whole body in difficulty.
• His conclusion: "There is a time for everything, but God is good all the time."

Key Takeaways

1. Every season has a beginning and an end. We control neither its length nor its circumstances, but God makes everything good in his time.
2. In every season, God has a goal: to make you grow, to train you, and sometimes to prepare you to help someone else.
3. God is outside of time and sovereign. He believes in you and did not place you in a season so that you would stay there.
4. Our part is to surrender to him, make the right choices and be neither late nor early for his time.
5. Missing the kairos means staying in the old season. Seizing it means walking in step with God and with the body of Christ.

Personal Application

1. What season are you in today, and what goal does God want you to reach in it?
2. Is there an old season you are still mourning, like Samuel mourning Saul, to the point of not hearing the call to move on?
3. In what situation are you trying to control everything or to be right, instead of letting God act?
4. Which brother or sister is going through a hard season, and how can you carry their burden this week?
5. Where do you need to say "my mistake" to get back in step with God?

Verses Cited

• Ecclesiastes 3:1-11
• Job 19:25-26
• Philippians 1:21-23
• Psalm 116:15
• Revelation 1:8
• Exodus 3:14
• Psalm 139:7-10
• 1 Kings 19:9
• 1 Samuel 16:1-13
• Jeremiah 29:11
• 1 Samuel 24:7
• 2 Chronicles 15:7
• Hebrews 6:11-12
• Proverbs 2:20
• Luke 6:27-28
• Romans 12:1-2
• Galatians 6:2

Frequently Asked Questions

What does "there is a time for everything" mean in Ecclesiastes 3?

For Vijay Sekar, to speak of a time is to say that everything has a beginning and an end. Seasons of joy and sadness alternate, they do not always follow one another, and their length varies. We do not control times and circumstances, but God makes everything beautiful in its time (Ecclesiastes 3:11).

What is the kairos, God's time?

The preacher describes the kairos as God's favorable time, the opportune moment he has set to step into a situation, a trial or a change. The risk is to miss it by staying in the old season. The benefit is to be in sync with God by placing ourselves in his will.

Why the title "my mistake"?

Vijay Sekar borrows an expression from the military: when a soldier misses a step in a march in formation, he says "my mistake" (in French, "autant pour moi") and gets back in step. The church is the body of Christ, called to walk together in God's time, neither late nor early, with the help of the Holy Spirit.